Alice in Wonderland ' syndrome

Imagine how it would be like, when you have the feeling that you are trapped inside a room that’s far too small. As if you are a giant. Maybe funny when experimenting with some kind of hallucinating drugs. But pretty scary when it constantly seems like the world is just not big enough for you.

The condition in which people perceive objects as much smaller than they actually are is called micropsia, or the ‘Alice in Wonderland Syndrome’ or the 'Lilliput sight'.

The syndrome was first described in 1955 by the English psychiatrist John Todd (1914-1987). Todd named it, of course, for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Perhaps not coincidentally, Lewis Carroll suffered from severe migraine. Also known as a Lilliputian hallucination.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AiWS), also known as Todd's syndrome or dysmetropsia, is a disorienting neuropsychological condition that affects perception. People may experience distortions in visual perception such as micropsia (objects appearing small), macropsia (objects appearing large), pelopsia (objects appearing to be closer than they are), or teleopsia (objects appearing to be further away than they are). Size distortion may occur in other sensory modalities as well.

AiWS is often associated with migraines, brain tumors, and psychoactive drug use. It can also be the initial symptom of the Epstein–Barr Virus (see mononucleosis). AiWS can be caused by abnormal amounts of electrical activity resulting in abnormal blood flow in the parts of the brain that process visual perception and texture.

Anecdotal reports suggest that the symptoms are common in childhood,with many people growing out of it in their teen years. It appears that AiWS is also a common experience at sleep onset and has been known to commonly arise due to a lack of sleep.

Treatment varies for micropsia due to the large number of different causes for the condition. Treatments involving the occlusion of one eye and the use of a prism fitted over an eyeglass lens have both been shown to provide relief from micropsia. When migraines cause the condition, it is usually short-lived and not treated. In the case of swelling of the cornea due to infection by the Epstein-Barr Virus, micropsia may present as an initial symptom of mononucleosis, but usually no specific treatment for the micropsia itself is undertaken. Usually, the condition improves within a few days.